My Hammer changes, is this normal?

[anabechara]

Hi guys!
So I recently graduated to having corals in my tank.
I have had them for 2 weeks so I am cautiously optimistic that I am doing the right things for them.
I have a green star polyp and a hammer (branching type)
I have been noticing that my hammer looks very tight during the day and when the light goes off he kinda like relaxes and moves more freely. He flow is the same. And
Is this something normal? Or could it be that the light is too intense for him?

Thank you for any insight!

I hope you can see the difference in the pictures.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Have you tried lowering the light intensity (or moving the coral lower in the tank if your lights aren't adjustable)?

 

[anabechara]

Have you tried lowering the light intensity (or moving the coral lower in the tank if your lights aren't adjustable)?

I have not tried moving anything. I have read that I should resist the urge to change things without knowing what I am doing... as that could make things worse.
I have a 45G tank and an AI hydra 32HD light. I have it set up like BRS recommended for soft corals in the same type of setting that I have. I have not checked the par cause I don't have one and my LFS don't have one either (yet)... I did send a picture of it to my LFS person and he thinks he looks fine...

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I have not tried moving anything. I have read that I should resist the urge to change things without knowing what I am doing... as that could make things worse.
I have a 45G tank and an AI hydra 32HD light. I have it set up like BRS recommended for soft corals in the same type of setting that I have. I have not checked the par cause I don't have one and my LFS don't have one either (yet)... I did send a picture of it to my LFS person and he thinks he looks fine...

You are correct that moving corals will usually make them unhappy, and that you don't want to mess with your lights too much. But if it were me, I'd program an acclimation period on the Hydra just to see; from your pics and description it does appear to be less happy during the day. You should be able to schedule the light so it's at 50-60% now and slowly increases to 100% over a couple weeks (the percentages are a fraction of the total your lights are programmed for - it won't take them higher than they are now... )

One other factor to consider is flow. Do your wavemakers stay the same 24/7 or do they change at all at night? Hammers and other similar corals like moderate indirect flow and will retract their polyps if it's too high or hitting them too directly.

 

[Alexopora]

Try ramping down the lights a little bit and see if there are any improvements. This is what I did for mine, and it started extending. Mine behaved the exact same way, extending more at night.

 

[anabechara]

You are correct that moving corals will usually make them unhappy, and that you don't want to mess with your lights too much. But if it were me, I'd program an acclimation period on the Hydra just to see; from your pics and description it does appear to be less happy during the day. You should be able to schedule the light so it's at 50-60% now and slowly increases to 100% over a couple weeks (the percentages are a fraction of the total your lights are programmed for - it won't take them higher than they are now... )

One other factor to consider is flow. Do your wavemakers stay the same 24/7 or do they change at all at night? Hammers and other similar corals like moderate indirect flow and will retract their polyps if it's too high or hitting them too directly.

Hi Erin! Thank you for your reply!
I actually decided to decrease the intensity of the light yesterday. I am planning to keep it like that at least for a week and see if that makes a difference.
The flow in my tank is the same day and night. I have realized that despite having just the return pumps and one wave maker, the flow is quite erratic, which I am loving. I have not change the flow at all since what the hammer gets seems to be pretty mild and definitely indirect.